Harry Reid Is Vilified by a Press Corps That Tolerates Much Worse From the Right

[applegrove]

Harry Reid Is Vilified by a Press Corps That Tolerates Much Worse From the Right

by Michelle Goldberg at the Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/07/harry-reid-is-vilified-by-a-press-corps-that-tolerates-much-worse-from-the-right.html

"SNIP......................................

For the past four years, various Republican officials have speculated that Barack Obama might be the foreign-born perpetrator of an elaborate biographical hoax, and thus not a legitimate president. Among them were several senators, including Oklahoma’s Jim Inhofe, who was quoted in Politico saying that the birthers “have a point.” Later, in a statement, he added, “The White House has not done a very good job of dispelling the concerns of these citizens.”

More recently, several Republican congressmen, led by Michele Bachmann, have demanded an investigation into Muslim Brotherhood infiltration into the Obama administration. While some in the party have denounced her, Mitt Romney adviser John Bolton came to her defense, asking, “What is wrong with raising the question?”

Yet somehow, after years in which calumnies against the president and his administration have become so routine as to be unremarkable, Harry Reid’s suggestion that Romney might have avoided paying taxes has roused establishment pundits to fits of pearl-clutching horror. On Sunday’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos, ABC News’s Jonathan Karl called Reid’s statements "one of the most outrageous charges that I've ever seen actually made on the Senate floor.” On Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer compared Reid’s charges with McCarthyism, an analogy that The Washington Post’s Richard Cohen reported on Monday: “The soaring rhetoric that Obama used in his first campaign has come to ground in the mud of Harry Reid’s latter-day McCarthyism.” On Tuesday, the Chicago Tribune ran an editorial headlined, “Harry Reid, Birther.”

Now simply claiming that the other side is worse is not a defense against political wrongdoing, and journalists needn’t judge ethical lapses on a curve. Still, Reid’s insinuations are pretty tame by the standards of contemporary political combat. The idea that Obama has camouflaged his past in order to illegally usurp the presidency requires wild leaps of logic and, if true, would mean that he is a criminal. The same is true of the frequent Republican allegations that Bill Clinton had Vince Foster murdered. By contrast, every year more than a thousand millionaires use various legal accounting tricks to avoid paying income taxes. Reid’s claim is not incredible on its face, nor does it imply that Romney has broken any law.

........................................SNIP"

[still_one]

1. Far as I am concerned that is a compliment to Reid. I wouldn't call the press core pigs because

That would be an insult to pigs

[Rosa Luxemburg]

8. The Republicans and their henchmen are desperate

[chollybocker]

2. "But both sides do it!"

Expect to hear that particluar brand of b.s. over the next weeks....

[Jamaal510]

10. Surprisingly, I haven't heard that yet from the media,

but they're still trying to push the myth that BOTH parties are moving away from the "center."

[Cosmocat]

18. Reserved strictly to marginalize the BS the Rs spew ...

[geckosfeet]

3. The "press corps" are nothing but gop bag boys. WTF do you expect? Seriously.

on edit: Kind of intersting to see how they at ginning this up, but it's all so transparent. Anything to deflect from the fact that their man hasn't put his cards on the table but wants to walk away with the pot.

[progressivebydesign]

4. Yes! the elite media sits there like a stump when Sununuu says the President isn't American.

They sit there kNOWIng that the lastest attack by Romney on work-to-welfare is absolutely a total lie. They sit there.. they do nothing. they allow people to lie straight to their faces about the President, when the facts are right there and easily debunked. They do nothing. But Harry Reid actually does something on the Democratic side, and they whine like little babies.

Of course the penthouse-owning, Hampton-summering, manicure-wearing, martini-swilling, 1%er media "personalities" are attacking Reid. Duh. because they WANT those tax breaks for the millionaires. Bring back poor journalists who are not beholden to some fucking Board of Directors, or owned by a military contractor, and maybe the Democrats would get a fair shake.

But when people like George Stephanopolous actually WELCOMES Ann Coulter, into the mainstream living rooms... you can tell that he's lost his soul the minute he cashed his first fat paychecks.

[ailsagirl]

5. According to Carville...

(paraphrased) Reid doesn't give a damn!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/125165439

[99th_Monkey]

6. I been likin' "Dirty Harry" more and more these daze

much better than when he would constantly roll over and kiss Bush's ass
at the drop of a hat. Like he found his balls.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

7. It does make it perfectly clear which way the wind blows

Does it not?

[chille1]

9. Media stands For (Millionaires edit daily in advance)

The Main stream media,News papers,and politicians are in it for the money,Big fat contracts, to say how down to earth and in touch with all of us they are as they take the lies that are so blatant that on most days that cant seem to spin,How in the world can in one sentence claim this is a lie that has been told and in the next sentence spin it to having some Merritt because the liar is adamant about the lie they just told all the while claiming they are bringing us the truth (Millionaires edit daily in advance ) everything that is reported for there corporate script writers and if a commentator or a writer somehow finds the guts to be completely honest every other outlet ,commentator,News paper will tare that person or organization apart and that in a nut shell is where we are at in the world of 24hr news cycle we are force fed this because we desire to know whats going on. I will end with this We can depend on one thing that is that we are the 99% and we are who pays there salary's through supporting the corporations that own all of the (media)if you know the truth tell someone dont wait for the (MILLIONAIRES to edit daily in advance).

[riverbendviewgal]

11. Is the media Leona Lansing? (Newsroom)

are they afraid of the Koch brothers and those other dispicable RW billionaires...Seems to me they are and are doing what they are told? The MSM is really afraid of the Brink trucks being dropped on them, eh?

[davidpdx]

19. I like that comparision

And Jane Fonda does a great job with her character on the show. I'm hoping next season is a bit longer than this one (a mere 10 episodes season which will end this month). IMHO it the season should be a minimum of 12 episodes. It sucks that it won't be back until next June. I read somewhere that they are trying to cover news stories that are 12-18 months ago.

Next season if they stay with the same type of script, I'd expect to see episodes on:

The Colorado shooting
The Wisconsin shooting
The 2012 election
Romney's tax issue

I'm sure I've forgotten plenty of other possibilities.

[riverbendviewgal]

20. I agree

I expect the crazy republican primaries will be good fodder as well.

The Olympics - The NHS act in the Opening ceremonies.

The drought.

But what will it be for the remaining free...I am trying to think of the Blackout....there was a big blackout in 2011 in California and Arizona.....

I can not miss this show for anything. This week they had back to back all the shows on Monday. I loved it ..saw them all but loved seeing them again.
...

[davidpdx]

22. I've watched parts of them again as well

Got them all on my computer

[hay rick]

12. The story is so simple it defies spin.

Much as they want to, the media can't really save Mitt on this. The only way they can fight the story is by ignoring it- and they haven't figured that out yet.

[kitt6]

13. The only ones doing the villifying

are Joe Scarborough, Fox News and right-wing talk radio. The usual suspects. Ban all of them!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

14. If you have anything bad to say about Obama or Democrats in general you get uninterrupted time...

...say anything bad about Republicans and the media will give you uninterrupted time,...IF you are a Republican denying it and whining about how unfair it is.

[craigmatic]

15. Harry should keep up the pressure. The media isn't liberal anyway and they love republicans. Give em

Hell Harry!

[Dustin DeWinde]

16. Great article .

L. think of speaks cowardice on true part of so-called journalists. They are afraid to call out those who do the bidding of the rich and powerful, but "journalists" are full of outrage against those who speak for the working stiff. Oh well, as more Dems follow Reid's example and fight back the press will eventually drop the double standard. America is worth fighting for

[Scuba]

17. Remember, the major media are owned by the same people who own the Republicans.

[Canadian 2]

21. That is True

Rec